Bill to Decriminalize Truancy Moves Forward in Texas
...while a similar bill in Colorado gets watered down.
Some good news from Texas:
Riding a passionate, sometimes heated appeal from a leading Democrat, the Texas Senate on Wednesday endorsed a plan to end criminal penalties for students who skip school.
More than 100,000 Texas students a year face Class C misdemeanors, and criminal records, for truancy violations that are handled in adult court—endangering their future applications for housing, college and the military, said state Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston….
Whitmire's Senate Bill 106—approved 26-5 Wednesday and sent to the House—would treat truancy as a civil court matter, allowing municipal court judges and justices of the peace to remain involved in the process but removing their ability to assess a criminal penalty.
The new bill would still allow the authorities to levy fines on families whose kids regularly skip school, but it's a substantial step in the right direction. It is both unjust and ridiculous to treat truancy as a criminal matter.
In related news, a measure to decriminalize truancy in Colorado—previously covered in Reason here and here—just got watered down.
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Yeah, but let them call marijuana by the correct name of cannabis and it’s off to the gulags with the little truants.
I remember the first time the concept of truancy and truant officers was introduced to me. It was while watching one of the Witch Mountain movies as a kid, I think Escape from Witch Mountain. I was stunned that there was a guy in a van going around trying to capture children during school hours because they weren’t in school. I thought “isn’t that…kidnapping?”
It’s fucking worse than that….
Do you hear that Bart? That was the tardy bell.
At the very least reform the law so that a misdemeanor doesn’t affect a minor’s future applications for housing, college and the military.
This is good. I took my oldest son to a professional conference with me last week. He hates school and loves books. It was a good choice by me. Officially, I guess, he was potentially unlawful in his absence.
*looks at picture*
This Dora fanfic isn’t going to end well.
The downside of this bill is that eliminating the criminal aspect drains all steam out of the movement to make truancy no court matter at all (civil or criminal), but I suppose we can’t afford to let perfect become the enemy of good.